The Old Car Manual Project has scanned the Roto-Hydramatic portion of the 1964 Oldsmobile Service Manual (Vol. 2, Series 34-35-36-38-39). Hopefully this will help forum members with their Roto-Hydramatic (Slim-Jim) problems and technical data.

http://64oldstrans.bravepages.com/Hy...Olds64Hydr.htm

 

You're kidding, right?

NOBODY understands Slim Jims and Dynaflows! They work off magic!

This will help some, but I still doubt you'll find anyone willing to step up and work on the thing even with factory service procedure in hand.

 

No, they work off transmission fluid! LOL

 

Believe me when I tell you these ***** work off magic. You have to have tea leaves and chicken bones ready when you monkey with one! Not to eat, either!

Dynaflows OTOH require Ouija boards and witch doctors.

Doesn't hurt to put on the water buffalo hat either.

Never have understood modern tranny shops' aversion to a SlimJim. Except for the fluid coupling, they operate much like a Chrysler TorqueFlite, just not as smooth.

 

I'll take a Dyna-Flow over a Roto-Hydramatic any day!

 

And that, folks, is a sad commentary on what a balky Slim Jim is really like.

Way back in the 40s, when Hydra-Matics were first roaming the streets in Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs, GM tried to push it onto Buick to help amortize its development costs. Buick would have none of it, claiming HMT were too jerky and rough for a Buick (good enough for a Cadillac, a Lincoln and even a Rolls-Royce, but not a Buick).

What Buick was saying in not so many words was they didn't design it, so they weren't interested.

I have never driven an early DynaFlow car. Drove a great-uncle's 59 LeSabre with Twin-Turbine DynaFlow a few times and it was interesting, but the total absence of shifting was a little unnerving to someone used to PowerGlides and Hydra-Matics.

 

I sold my 371 and Hydromatic to a guy in Flordia who is going to install ing his 48 coup with a ford 9" rearend. He is a member hear and contacted me through my add in used parts. He bought everything, including the batwing air cleaner cross member, motor mounts, transmission, All numbers matching. I packed it up and sent it to him. He is thrilled. He has stayed in contact with me and I am helping him with the install. It is going to be aretro rod. He took the tranny to a local shop to have it looked at. The guy says Oh I know these trans like the back of my hand (20) maybe. He tells my guy this tranny is shot shifts so hard from low to second I think it is broken and can't be fixed. I will sell you a rebuilt 350 and you will be good to go. The engine and trannny I sold him have less then 20K miles since total rebuild and I have the reciepts to prove it. I send him the paper work and tel him to get the tranny out of there. He does. I tell hom to get on this site and other will confirm thats a good trans, and that it shifts from first to second by itself, from send to third and from third to fourth. Please let him know the truth. He needs to read more here is what I told him to get the truth.

 

This should be a new thread, as 371s came with Jetaways.

tranny?

In the car and running? If not, how does he know how it shifts?

If he called it a tranny, he probably does not have a clue.

The 2-3 (not the 1-2) shift is the one that is obvious. 1-2 and 3-4 should be barely noticeable. Another indication that this tranny guy does not have a clue.

If he had a clue, he would know that there was too much line pressure. A proper tune-up and a simple TV adjustment is always the first place to start.

Although fitting a TH series trans in place of a Jetaway is possible, it's definitely not easy.

Especially for a "shop" that does not have a clue.

Norm